SBI has released the details of electoral bonds following the Supreme Court order. The Election Commission has published the information on its website. The electoral bonds also revealed the number of donations received by political parties in Maharashtra. The NCP reportedly received Rs 65.6 crore through the bonds.
There was a split in the NCP last year. However, between 2018 and January 2024, the NCP received around Rs 65.6 crore from electoral bonds. NCP state president Jayant Patil said the party has received Rs 50.5 crore through bonds. "We received around Rs 50 crore in donations including Rs 31 crore till 2019 and Rs 20 crore in the subsequent period. Our party no longer has any electoral bonds. So bond has nothing to do with our party. But in the coming days, we are trying to get donors for the party," said Sunil Tatkare, state president of the Ajit Pawar group. This story has been reported by TOI.
Meanwhile, when the NCP was together, the party was getting donations from Sharad Pawar's industrialist friends. Most of them are companies from Pune. Donors like Neotia Foundation, Bharti Airtel, Cyrus Poonawalla, United Shippers, controversial builder Avinash Bhosale, Bajaj Finance, Atul Chordia, Oberoi Realty, Abhay Firodia are among the donors. All these donors have been disclosed in the information provided to the Election Commission till May 2019.
Highest donations from construction and real estate
The NCP has received electoral bonds worth Rs 28.5 crore from April 2019 till the freezing of bank accounts. The major donors were QWik Supply Chain Company (Rs 10 crore), IndiGo (Rs 3.8 crore), Torrent Power (Rs 3.5 crore) and Magarpatta Township Development (Rs 3 crore). Other small donors include Mahalaxmi Electricity, Nanded City Development and Construction, Ambuja Housing and Urban Infrastructure. Donations have also been received from various construction and real estate companies such as Chanda Investment and Trading and Goa Carbon.